Switzerland Set to Vote on Nuclear Phase-Out

An initiative to phase out the use of nuclear energy in Switzerland by 2029 has secured enough support for a national referendum.

The Swiss Federal Chancellery said, 17 January that it had validated 107,533 of the 108,227 signatures submitted in a November petition that calls for Switzerland to gradually withdraw from nuclear energy. Over 100,000 signatures are needed to prompt a referendum, a date for which has not yet been announced.

Switzerland’s federal government has already decided to phase out nuclear power, which currently generate 40% of the country’s electricity, by not replacing the five existing reactors with new nuclear capacity once they reach the end of their lifetimes. This plan would see the closure of all Swiss nuclear power plants by 2035. However there is currently no formal legislation in place.